Uncomfortable truths

Jennette McCurdy made a splash with a memoir about her mom. In debut novel about a wild affair, she plumbs the depths of power dynamics.

- ASHLEY SPENCER

"I REALLY try to write for truth, and I can't help it if that's shocking. I can't help it if that's noisy," author Jennette McCurdy says.

Jennette McCurdy's phone could not be silenced.

After the release of her 2022 memoir, "I'm Glad My Mom Died," the actor-turned-author received an unending barrage of messages and calls from friends, family, distant acquaintances, people she'd crossed paths with one time when she was 12 years old.

"I heard from everybody I've ever met. Everybody came out of the woodwork," McCurdy said. While most of the messages were positive, she added, "I have changed my phone number a few times since then. I like to keep my inner circle pretty close now."

Her memoir was a raw, unflinching look at her childhood spent tethered to an abusive mother, her personal battles with eating disorders and alcohol, her tumultuous teenage years as a Nickelodeon star on the sitcoms "iCarly" and "Sam & Cat" and her recalibration in the wake of her mother's death from cancer when McCurdy was 21.

Its readership went far beyond McCurdy's phone contacts. "I'm Glad My Mom Died" was a bona-fide phenomenon. It sold more than 3 million copies and spent more than 80 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list. And it’s in the process of being adapted into an Apple TV+ series starring Jennifer Aniston as McCurdy’s mother.

Now, McCurdy, who is 33, is attempting to tell a new story with the January release of her debut novel “Half His Age.” The insular, visceral tale follows Waldo, a teenage girl in Alaska who has a sexual relationship with her middle-aged, married English teacher.